Al Capone is approached from an angle that seems too soft to us to match the image of the ruthless gangster and mob boss who made his legend. Protective towards his sister, understanding with those around him, one would almost feel pity for him and one would come to blame his sister Rita for having fallen in love with Eliot Ness. The latter, initially uncompromising, finds himself too quickly shaken up in his convictions at the first glance of the beautiful Rita. From there follow inner questions to which each character tries to answer, until the end which is prepared like grand moment; the musical apotheosis is there but the outcome of the characters is somewhat disappointing. Around this trio gravitates Lili, the mistress of Al Capone which it is hard to believe that she can be both capable of managing an underground cabaret in the midst of prostitution and being so sweet with her lover.
All the ingredients are present to create a story that might keep us in suspense. Gangsters, murders, impossible loves, we have already seen less well-crafted musicals. How then to explain this mixed feeling? We feel like we’re only skimming over the characters, not grasping their deep motivation and that they’re ultimately caricatures of themselves (the plot that takes place over just a few days obviously doesn’t help). The dialogues and the libretto fail to set an assertive tone, and the sung recitatives prove to be too poor to ensure fluid transitions between scenes (like “a hat for Capone” which is visually and musically pleasing, but meaningless for the story itself).
